


Shock

by ducttapeofdoom



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-13
Updated: 2012-09-01
Packaged: 2017-11-12 02:34:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/485729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ducttapeofdoom/pseuds/ducttapeofdoom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Funny what a walk through a parking garage can do…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Title: Shock

Author: Lenora

Pairing,Character(s): eventual Dave/Kurt, Mr. Berry/Mr. Berry, eventual Puckerberry

Rating: M

Word Count: 1,987

Spoilers: Up to Furt, AU after that.

Summary: Funny what a walk through a parking garage can do…

 

**Shock**

**Chapter 1**

 

Dave Karofsky walked through the parking garage attached to his father’s office. Part of his father’s condition for him returning to McKinley had been sessions with his father’s partner, the downside of having a psychiatrist for a father.

 

He was texting Azimio as he walked towards the elevator when he tripped over something. He slammed into the concrete hard. “Son of a bi-“ he cut off when he saw what he tripped over a foot…a foot attached to a body. “Oh shit, Mr. Berry!” Dave yelled, crawling over to the lawyer whose office shared the same building as his father’s office.

 

Hiram Berry didn’t move when called though Dave figured it could have been because of the bruises on his face and the blood under his head. “Shit,” Dave breathed, reaching for his phone to call for an ambulance. After he made the call, he reached for the phone that was resting next to Mr. Berry’s leg. He searched through the contacts until he found the listing for Leroy Berry.

 

“Hey Babe,” a fond voice rang out of the speaker.

 

“Mr. Berry?” Dave asked, his voice shaking.

 

“Who is this?”

 

“Uh, Dave Karofsky. I was walking through the parking garage and I found Mr. Berry unconscious. I called the ambulance but I wanted to let you know. I go to school with your daughter.”

 

“ _That’s_ why your name sounded familiar. Rachel has mentioned you before,” Leroy said before sucking in a shaky breath. “Is-is Hiram okay?”

 

“He’s breathing, but other than that all I know is CPR. I can hear the sirens now,” Dave said, his hands shaking. _God,_ this _is why I don’t want to come out. How did this happen!_

 

Dave held the phone next to Mr. Berry’s ear so that he could hear Leroy’s voice as they waited for the paramedics. He could honestly say that he was freaking out and he was convinced that he was in shock as well.

 

“Damn it boy, where are-OHMYGOD!” Paul Karofsky yelled, coming upon his son kneeling next to the unconscious man in the parking garage. “David, what happened?”

 

“I don’t know Dad, I found him like this,” Dave whispered, the shaking starting to become worse. “I called for help, they should be here soon.” He was cut off by the arrival of the ambulance. He pulled the phone back when the paramedics knelt by the man. “Mr. Berry? The paramedics are here. I’ll meet you at St. Rita’s so you can have his things.”

 

“Thank you David,” Leroy said, his voice shaking as he hung up the phone.

 

Paul helped his son move back a bit for the paramedics and he frowned when he saw how pale and clammy Dave was. “Come on son.”

 

“No, have to get to the hospital. Have to give Mr. Berry his phone,” Dave said, breathing rapidly as he stared blankly at Hiram.

 

“Shit Dave, I think you’re going into shock. We’ll go to the hospital,” Paul reassured his son, not being able to stop himself from trying to figure out why the boy would be reacting like this. He just knew that he didn’t like the sight of his strong son almost passing out. He crab-walked Dave over to the boy’s car and grabbed his own keys from his pocket and unlocked the door with the spare that he kept for safety. Once he got his son into the car and buckled in, he walked back over to where the paramedics were finishing up strapping Hiram Berry onto a stretcher. He picked up his son’s cell phone and anything else that was lying on the ground. Paul blinked in shock when he saw what the background of his son’s cell phone was…a photo of Kurt Hummel. Suddenly, a lot of things made sense.

 

XxXxX

 

An hour and a half had passed and Dave was finally coming out of the daze of shock. He looked down at his hands and noticed that he was still clutching Mr. Berry’s cell phone. Deciding to not wait for his father or a nurse to come back and tell him he could go, Dave climbed off of the ER bed he had been perched on and ventured out in search of that mysterious voice on the other side of the phone.

 

As it turned out, he didn’t have to look far before the familiar screech of Rachel Berry assaulted his ears. He winced subtly. He had almost forgotten that the girl was involved in this situation and he vaguely remembered Mr. Berry mentioning her while they were on the phone.

 

Leroy Berry, it seemed, had been trying to reign in his daughter when Dave came upon them. “Shh, little star, Daddy’s going to be fine,” he hummed, trying to calm Rachel down.

 

“Mr. Berry?” Dave asked quietly, not wanting to intrude, but also wanting to make sure the man got the phone back. Both Berry’s heads whipped towards him at his voice.

 

“What are you doing here Karofsky?” Rachel snapped, figuring that she had an easy target to take her frustrations out on.

 

“He’s the one that found Daddy, star,” Leroy said, trying to soothe the girl. He stepped foreword and couldn’t help himself. He threw his arms around the teen. “Thank you,” he sobbed. “I don’t care why you were there or what you’ve done before, but thank you for saving my husband.”

 

Dave traded shocked looks with Berry, not being able to process the fact that Leroy Berry was hugging him and crying on his shoulder. He awkwardly patted the man on the back. “You’re welcome,” he said, “but I was just doing what anyone would do.”

 

“You’d be surprised,” Rachel snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

 

“What do you mean?” Dave asked, holding up the phone for Leroy to take. “Here’s Mr. Berry’s phone. I must have had a good grip on it because I didn’t lose it on the drive over or when they were checking me over.” He patted his pants pocket. “Hell, I don’t even know where my _own_ phone is right now.”

 

“Daddy was lying there for over 40 minutes,” Rachel said, suddenly seeming to shrink on herself. “Ton’s of people must have walked by him and just left him there.”

 

Dave just stared at her in shock. He _knew_ the general population of Lima were homophobic assholes, he’d had plenty of people to imitate to learn the process from, but to leave someone bleeding on the ground and just walk on by? That was seriously cold.

 

“What’s _he_ doing here?” growled the voice of Noah Puckerman from behind Dave.

 

Dave turned around and stared at the reformed bully in shock. It wasn’t exactly the fact that Puckerman was at the hospital that shocked him, he knew that Puckerman saw Berry as kind of a Jew ally, but the fact that he was there in one of those Jew headcap thingies is what shocked him. The last Dave knew, Puckerman didn’t go to temple.

 

“Noah,” Berry sighed, going up to hug the jock. “Why are you wearing a yarmulke?”

 

“Kurt called me and told me about your dad. One of the things he had me do was round up the women at temple to help with your dad’s car and your house. Mom made me grab this before I left…and I might have said a quick prayer for Mr. Berry,” he whispered. He oof’ed in surprise when both Rachel and Leroy hugged him in tandem. “Kurt’s on his way, so you better get out of here,” he warned Dave, glaring at him.

 

Dave nodded. He didn’t want a confrontation. He turned and walked back towards where his bed had been, trying to stop the feeling of giddiness that was welling up at the thought of Kurt being in the same building as him again.

 

XxXxX

 

Dave couldn’t help but sigh again as he received another lecture from the nurse for getting up before he had been allowed to. He stared at his hands as he felt his dad’s stare on the side of his face. When the nurse finally left them, he braced himself for the lecture he was sure was coming.

 

“So…is this the reason your grades have been falling?” Paul asked, shoving Dave’s phone with the secret background lit up under Dave’s face.

 

Dave blanched. So far he had successfully avoided giving his father’s partner any idea about his sexuality, but it looked like the cat was out of the bag now. So all he could do was nod.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me David?”

 

At that, Dave snapped. “Tell you what Dad? That I’ve been crushing on the school’s punching bag ever since I realized what tits were and that I didn’t want anything to do with them? That the one thing I’m most afraid of in the world is being outed and going through what he does? What all of them do in this town? That could have been me Dad! Mr. Berry was lying there for over 40 minutes Dad. And no one, not one fucking person, stopped to help him. Hell, I didn’t notice he was there until I tripped over his foot. All I had to do was wait a few months more, then I could get out of this hellhole and away from the rest of the Lima Losers on the hockey and football teams.” To his horror, Dave could feel tears begin to well up in his eyes. “And in trying to fit in, all I did was scare away the _one_ person that could understand what I was feeling.”

 

Paul shook himself out of the shock he was feeling to throw his arms around his son. “Shh, I’m sorry you felt that you couldn’t tell me,” he crooned.

 

“David?” asked a voice that Dave never thought he’d hear invade his hospital room.

 

“Berry?” Dave asked, looking at the girl in surprise. Just a half hour ago, she was looking at him like he was the scum of the earth.

 

She shifted awkwardly after a minute of them staring at each other. “I came to apologize. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that but with your history of bullying those that are “different”, I couldn’t help but assume you were here to mock us. I uh,” she looked over at Paul for a second, “couldn’t help but overhear what you said. And I just wanted to tell you, that while I do not approve of your methods of trying to blend in, just for the record, Kurt isn’t the only one that could understand. I have extensive experience with the community even though I am not gay myself,” she pointed out.

 

Dave stared at her in shock. Though he didn’t personally like her most of the time, she had a point. With two gay dads, she would have been a good person to talk to about his situation. There was just one problem. “One thing though Berry, you’re a blabbermouth. Everyone knows it,” Dave pointed out.

 

Dave could see her take a couple breaths to calm herself down. “That might be true, but if there’s one thing I know, it’s only up to the person involved when and if they decide to come out to the hulking parasites that make up the student body. I would have kept your secret.”

 

Dave nodded. “Fair enough Berry. Can you prove it though? I’m not ready for _them_ to know.”

 

Berry nodded. “On one condition.” _Oh great, she’s going to ask for something like me stopping the slushies, isn’t she?_ Dave thought. “You call me Rachel.”

 

Dave nodded. “I can do that.”

 

Ber-Rachel smiled softly and walked up to Dave. “By the way, thank you.”

 

“Anytime, Rachel, anytime.” And Dave was shocked to realize that he meant it.

 

TBC

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The POV will alternate between Dave and Kurt for a while...

Kurt had accepted long ago that he would always be the emotional support for those he deemed ‘his girls’. At first, that title had only belonged to Tina and Mercedes, both vulnerable in different ways and in need of his occasional help.

 

But then the three Cheerios joined the club and Kurt was introduced to Brittany. She confused him most of the time and her comments often left his head aching, but he soon discovered that she was sweet and willing to help others when she agreed to help him with his ‘Single Ladies’ video. He was even there for Quinn in the aftermath of her pregnancy being revealed to the school.

 

The two girls in the club that he hadn’t helped in some way were Santana and Rachel. One because Santana didn’t seem to have any emotions other than lust most of the time, and the other because Kurt really couldn’t stand Rachel the majority of the time.

 

However, in the aftermath of the failed makeover, and the realization that the two of them really _were_ too much alike than Kurt was comfortable with, he slowly began to let Rachel into his exclusive group of girls, even if none of the other girls knew at the time.

 

It was due to that fact that Kurt slowly began to show care and concern for Rachel in front of the others. The first instance had been when Finn had blabbed about Rachel dating Jesse St. James. If the two had met at any other time, Kurt would have encouraged Rachel to go for it. The two were equally diva-ish, the boy was _fine_ , and it left Finn single once more. Unfortunately, the fact that they met right after New Directions became Vocal Adrenaline’s biggest competition just set off warning bells in Kurt’s instincts.

 

He had tried to warn her without coming right out and say it, but it seemed like she was ready to just brush off the idea that oh-so-perfect Jesse could be playing her. He had really hated to be right…

 

The second instance had been in the aftermath of the egging that Vocal Adrenaline had performed on Rachel. Even though Puck hadn’t included him in the call to arms, Kurt still jumped right up to defend his girl. However, he still worded it so that the others wouldn’t suspect the true reason of his willingness to defend Rachel.

 

Rachel, in turn, was the one that Kurt turned to when Finn used the f-word to describe Kurt’s redecorating efforts. He figured, out of all the Glee kids, Rachel would understand the utter hurt and devastation that shook Kurt after what Finn said. It was also the reason that Rachel hardly looked at Finn during that time, not that he noticed.

 

Kurt and Rachel took the time over the summer to get together to keep their burgeoning friendship together. Kurt took the opportunity to rant to the girl about losing his mother as a child while she returned the favor about her birth mother seeking her out only to abandoning her again when the relationship wasn’t what Shelby wanted it to be.

 

It was that time they spent together over the summer that let Kurt and Rachel come to terms with calling each other on their bullshit and at the same time, allow them to comfort the other if needed. It was due to this that allowed Rachel to realize that Kurt was hurt by Finn’s interference in the duet with Sam.

 

It was their friendship that stopped him from bursting into his dad’s hospital room when Rachel was singing. He might not have liked what they were doing, but he respected Rachel enough to not interrupt her while she was performing.

 

Then, once again, it had been Rachel that had noticed that something was off with Karofsky’s bullying of Kurt. The two diva’s friendship had stayed strong through that ordeal and Kurt’s transfer to their rival school.

 

It was that friendship that came to a head one day not too long after Christmas vacation ended. Kurt was in the middle of a meeting of the Warblers for ideas for Regionals when his phone started ringing loudly in the middle of a quiet spell.

 

“What the-?” Kurt cried, diving for his bag. He didn’t bother turning it off during the meetings because he knew that no one that called him would call during the meetings because they were usually either at work or in Glee. “I’m so sorry guys, no one calls me during Warbler time,” he apologized, pulling the phone out to silence it. His brow furrowed when he saw the name flashing on the screen. “I’m sorry guys, I’ve got to take this.”

 

“Why is Rachel calling you Kurt?” Blaine asked, looking over Kurt’s shoulder at the phone.

“I don’t know. There’s no reason she should be calling. She should be in Glee right now.” He accepted the call before it could go to voicemail. “Rachel? I swear if this is to complain about not getting a solo, I’m going to hang up on…sweetie, why are you crying? What’s wrong? Is it Finn?” he asked, in a panic.

 

All of the Warblers couldn’t help but sit up and stare at their countertenor. They all were fond of the junior in their own ways and weren’t used to hearing that much emotion in his voice.

 

“Oh thank God. What? Your house was vandalized again? Honey, you usually shrug that off. WHAT!” Kurt screeched, jumping to his feet. “All right sweetie, you grab your dad and make your way to St. Rita’s. I’ll take care of everything else. I’m on my way.” With that, he hung up the phone before making another call. “Puck? It’s Kurt. I need you to grab all the ladies from your Nana’s temple and bring them over to Rachel’s house. It’s been vandalized again. I also need you or your mom to go to Mr. Berry’s office parking lot and grab his car…Noah, Mr. Berry’s been attacked. I don’t know how bad it is, but Rachel and her other father are on their way to the hospital now. Neither of them needs to worry about this right now. I need you to be me and take charge until I can get there. Can I count on you?” Kurt nodded in response to whatever Puck said. “Good. Oh, and see if you can keep Finn away for now. Rachel doesn’t need him around making her feel worse at the moment. Lord knows he never means to, but somehow he always manages to make someone feel worse when they’re down.” Kurt laughed lightly. “Okay, see you in two hours Noah.”  He then ended the call and remembered where he was. “Oh.”

 

“Kurt, is Rachel okay?” Blaine asked.

 

Kurt nodded, grabbing the sheet music he had been looking at. “Physically, yes. Emotionally, still undecided. One of her fathers was attacked on the way to work today in the parking lot of his office building. Someone didn’t find him until almost an hour after his lunch break was over. He’s being taken to the hospital right now. Unfortunately, someone also picked today to vandalize their house.  Puck is going to arrange to get their house cleaned up and hold down the fort until I get there.”

 

“But what about practice?” Thad asked, looking shocked that someone would want to blow off practice.

 

“Look!” Kurt yelled, throwing down his bag. “I don’t know how it is here in privileged land for those of you who haven’t had to deal with homophobic assholes all your life, but you will never know how lucky you are to be considered ‘normal’ by the general public. Rachel has grown up her entire life either being told that she’s an abomination for being raised by two gay dads, or that people will pray for her soul for being exposed to such wickedness. I am the only one that can possibly understand what she is going through. And until you have been the emotional rock of a teenage girl, don’t come to me asking about some stupid practice for a competition that is months away.” At the end of his rant, Kurt’s cheeks were flushed, his eyes were flashing, and he was panting. “My girls come first,” he said finally.

 

Wes got up from behind the council desk and walked over to his friend. “We understand,” he said softly. “Go. Let her know that we’re all rooting for her dad, and that if she needs anything, she has a cornucopia of friends with rich parents that can help: from hiring the best lawyers to prosecute to doctors for second opinions if the doctors in Lima have a problem with her dads.”

 

Kurt smiled. “Thanks Wes,” he whispered.

 

Blaine walked over. “Come on, I’ll walk you out,” he offered.

 

Kurt shook his head. “No, I’m relying on you to be my eyes and ears for what’s being planned.” The truth was, after being friend zone’d at Valentine’s Day, Kurt needed a little time away from his friend for his sanity. He was trying to tone down his crush but he doubted that Blaine would pull a Finn to make him instantly get over the older teen.

 

Blaine smiled at Kurt and went to take the spot on the couch Kurt had been sitting.

 

XxXxX

 

Kurt drove back to Lima as quickly as he possibly could without getting a ticket. He didn’t even bother undoing his tie or taking off the blazer in his haste. When he reached St. Rita’s Hospital, he pulled into the closest parking spot he could find to the entrance of the Emergency Room and quickly made his way into the hospital.

 

He made his way confidently towards the triage desk, knowing that the nurses would be the ones that would know where Mr. Berry was. “Hiram Berry, please,” he said politely.

 

“Are you family,” the nurse asks before even looking up.

 

“Yes.” Kurt didn’t feel like beating around the bush with the woman. “I’m his daughter’s half-brother,” he fibbed. The two were close enough, he supposed, even if the blood tie wasn’t true.

 

The nurse nodded, accepting it since there was no way to validate it. She led him through the doors and into the back, where all of the rooms were separated from the hall by curtains. As he passed one, he couldn’t help but notice what looked like a McKinley High letterman jacket…but he must have been mistaken.

 

“Ms. Berry,” the nurse said, stopping behind a dejected figure on a chair. “Your brother is here.”

 

“Kurt?” Rachel asked, getting up immediately. When she saw that it indeed was her friend, she threw herself into his arms.

 

“I’m here Rach,” he soothed, “let it out.”

 

TBC

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m basing the layout of the emergency room by my local hospital. I figure, if Lima’s supposedly as small as they say on the show, then my small town hospital can’t be too far off the mark.


	3. Chapter 3

Dave walked through the doors of McKinley the Monday after the attack. He could feel the bags under his eyes as he tried to blend into the crowd as he made his way towards his locker. He had been having trouble sleeping ever since the attack on Friday and he totally wished that shock actually counted as something he could miss school for.

 

He barely made it half a dozen steps into the school when he felt someone take his arm. He looked down in shock at the top of Rachel Berry’s head.

 

“Good morning David,” she said breezily as they walked past a group of jocks holding slushy cups, as if daring them to act when she was walking with Dave. The group just stared after them dumbfounded, figuring that Karofsky was now dating the girl.

 

“What is it with that chick? She have beer flavored nipples? First it was Puckerman, then Hudson, now Karofsky?” one of the jocks asked, staring after the two. “Think she’d be up for a little somethin’ something?” he asked, making a lewd gesture with the question.

 

“Hello ladies,” Puck purred from behind the group of jocks. “I thought we established that Berry was off limits. But if you want a reminder, I’m off probation and am just itching for a fight,” he threatened, cracking his knuckles.

 

“You got it Puck, but the rest of the losers are free game, right?” Strando asked, looking hopefully at the other jock. Who just proceeded to give him a ‘bitch please’ look that he’d never admit he learned from Kurt. Strando just hunched over and began to drink his slushy as if to say ‘message received’. Puck stayed only long enough to convey this message to the others before following to where Rachel was chattering at Dave as she pulled her books from her locker.

 

“-and Dad says that it’s only a mild concussion and that Daddy should be able to come home before the game this Friday. I told Dad that you might not be playing since the team slushied you back before the football championship game, but Dad still wants to go to the game this week to show the town that they can’t keep the Berry’s down. Oh and Daddy would like to meet you properly to thank you,” Rachel said in a near constant stream of words as Dave just stared at her in shock. “How about today?”

 

“Making dates without me already Berry?” Puck teased as he slid to her other side, the two almost acting as bodyguards against the assholes that surrounded them at the school.

 

Dave only had time to raise an eyebrow at the blush on Rachel’s face before a loud voice cut through the crowd.

 

“Rachel! What the hell is this?” Finn asked, stomping towards them. “Why the hell were you walking with _him_? He made Kurt transfer!”

 

“Finn, I was just discussing with David the possibility of him visiting my father in the hospital. He was attacked on Friday,” she said, her face falling a bit at the reminder. “Dave was the one to find him.”

 

“What the hell Rachel? Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

“Calm down dude, Kurt asked me not to tell you until we knew anything about his condition,” Puck said.

 

“What? You knew! Kurt knew? Is everyone just keeping things from me on purpose now?”

 

Rescue from the shouting came from an unlikely source. “This is why no wanted to tell you Finn!” Quinn snapped. “You treat every piece of news about _other people’s lives_ that isn’t revealed to you immediately like some sort of attack against you personally. You did it when Jesse St. James joined Glee last year and when Kurt’s dad had the heart attack in October. NOT EVERYTHING IS ABOUT YOU!” She then turned to the stunned Rachel. “I’m so sorry about your father Rachel. I’ll pray for him,” she said softly.

 

“Thank you Quinn.”  Rachel ignored the still shocked Finn and instead closed her locker. “Come along Noah, David.” She looped her arm through Dave’s as they walked away from the still stunned quarterback.

 

XxXxX

 

Later that day, Dave sat in his car outside the hospital, realizing that he was horribly early for the meeting with Mr. Berry. He had left the school before Glee got out. He stared blankly at the building. He really didn’t want to go back in there, but he had promised Rachel before their first class that he’d talk to her dads.

 

A sharp knock on the window startled him. He looked out of the window and relaxed when he saw that it was Leroy Berry. He rolled down the window. “Hi Mr. Berry.”

 

Leroy smiled widely. “Please David, after all you’ve done for this family, call me Leroy.”

 

Dave shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He wasn’t comfortable with calling the man by his first name, but how could he deny the man what he wanted? “Sure Leroy,” he said, grabbing his bag from the front seat and getting out of the car. “Rachel mentioned that your husband wanted to talk to me.”

 

Leroy nodded as he led the way into the hospital and down a hallway that Dave had never been through. “He mostly wanted to get to know you outside of what Rachel used to tell us.” He winced as he thought of the way that his baby girl and husband used to curse his very name whenever Rachel would come home after a particularly unwelcome slushy attack.

 

Dave shrugged. “’s cool dude,” he mumbled. “I know what an ass I was to her and the rest of that fre-club,” he amended quickly.

 

Leroy smiled at Dave. “It’s all right Dave. I know what you were going to say. I went to McKinley also, I know how little the club is thought of.  They’re only cool when they’re winners. When they’re not, they’re freaks and nerds. We thought about sending Rachel to Carmel High, but her mother coached there and we didn’t see it as a good thing to have them meet just yet,” he said conversationally. “And then they ended up meeting anyway.”

 

Dave looked confused at that. “How’d they meet?” he asked, really contributing to the conversation for the first time.

 

“I assume through Rachel’s ex boyfriend who was a member of Vocal Adrenaline before transferring to McKinley to be with Rachel. According to Kurt, he then had a bitch fit and transferred back to Carmel when he didn’t get the adoration that he felt he deserved.” Leroy shook his head at the thought. “Vocal Adrenaline and Jesse egged Rachel right before Regionals last school year. I actually had to restrain Hiram from tracking down the kid and kicking his ass.” He let out a short bark of laughter. “And this from the man that taught our daughter that every life is sacred and helped her get into the vegan lifestyle. Personally, I think that the kid was pressured by his teammates. I saw how Jesse was when he was near Rachel. He looked at her like she was everything he wanted in life.”

 

Dave now thought he remembered the guy Leroy was describing. Wild curls, cute but with a condescending attitude towards anyone on the football team and he was way worse towards the hockey team. “I remember him,” he said, but before he could say anything else, they reached the door to the room Mr. Berry was staying in. Dave watched Leroy take a deep breath before pasting a smile onto his face as he opened the door.

 

“Honey, Dave is here to see you.”

 

Dave tried to do the same but only managed that pathetic smirk that had crossed his lips before he stole the wedding topper back in November. “Hi Mr. Berry,” he said softly.

 

“My savior,” Hiram joked hoarsely, his voice sounding scratchy. Judging from the bruise across his throat, Dave figured that someone had either hit him or grabbed him by the throat to stop him alerting anyone during the attack.

 

Dave dropped his bag by the door and slowly walked towards the bed. “So Rachel tells me you’re thinking about going to the game on Friday,” he said, falling back on the time honored ‘so how ‘bout ‘dem Yankees?’ line of questioning whenever a male got uncomfortably close to talking about feelings.

 

By the time Rachel arrived an hour later, Dave had Hiram and Leroy laughing with his descriptions of the mess that had been trying to teach the football players how to dance for the halftime show. She smiled at the reveal of a charming side to David Karofsky that no one could have guessed lay beneath his homophobic jock exterior.

 

“Little Star!” Hiram cried out, his voice sounding rougher due to the bouts of laughter. “Bring Dave around the house more. It’s always nice to have such young, fit, eye candy around for us old guys,” he joked.

 

Dave shifted in his seat. He wasn’t anywhere near being ready to accept his orientation, but he had to admit that being thought of as eye candy was an ego boost.

 

The next day, he cornered the hockey coach and managed to convince him to let Dave play in the game that Friday. Dave knew that Cooper would pitch a fit, but Dave couldn’t care less. He knew the only reason the asshole was even captain was because Dave wasn’t able to take the position due to football also taking up his time. The entire team knew that Dave was a better player than Cooper, even with missing half the practices for football.

 

Dave also began escorting Rachel to her classes whenever he could. Whatever ridiculous rumors that were floating around about the two of them helped keep her out of the radar of the bullies and Dave was pretty sure that Puck was spreading half of them. His head hurt whenever he tried to think about whatever it was between Puck and Rachel and preferred to just not think about it.

 

But what he did end up thinking about was Kurt. Was Kurt happy at that preppy all boys’ school that Dave had driven him to? Was he happy with that douche Dapper McEyebrows? Was there any chance of getting Kurt back now that Dave wasn’t bullying anyone? Could Kurt ever-he stopped himself even thinking about that last one. There was no way Kurt could ever see him in that light. Not after Dave was such a dick and especially not with prep school boy around.

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoever first used Dapper McEyebrows, that was just an awesome description of Blaine that I just had to use it. Hope you don’t mind.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize right away. I know nothing about hockey other than a couple general things. So if I’m wrong about anything, feel free to tell me but nothing is going to get me to actually watch one of those games, even if it’s for research purposes.

 

The Thursday after the attack found Kurt sitting in his room, giving Rachel a much needed manicure as she ranted to him about her father’s condition. He had been happily tuning her out, only responding every now and then with an hmm when needed. But the last comment had him jerking out of his haze. “Your father wants what?”

 

“Dad wants to go to the hockey game tomorrow. I told David about it and apparently he managed to make sure that he was playing. I assume he wanted to also show whoever attacked Daddy that something like this won’t keep us down. And I am pretty sure that after Monday, Dad and Daddy want to adopt David.”

 

“They met him then?” Kurt asked, feigning disinterest as he applied polish to the nails of Rachel’s right hand. “And they were charmed by his boorish antics?”

 

Rachel eyed Kurt, noticing something off in Kurt’s question but not figuring out what was off. “Well, you know that David was the one to rescue Daddy. I decided to call a truce, cooling the hostility towards him. And my dads wanted to properly meet him so they could thank him. And apparently because of my actions towards David, the school thinks we are dating. There are so many rumors flying around that I cannot keep up with them.”

 

Kurt nodded. “I did catch a few of them off of Jacob’s blog. Nick and Jeff apparently decided to subscribe to his blog before I set them straight about the true content of Jacob’s ‘sources’” he used air quotes there, “and the validity of his stories. So I didn’t actually believe that you would suddenly become buddy buddy with him.”

 

Usually Rachel would be the first to share gossip about someone, but after spending most of the week in Dave’s presence, she didn’t think that it would be a nice thing to spill Dave’s secrets to Kurt. Of course, she had no clue that Kurt already knew Dave’s secret, and he wasn’t going to tell either.

 

When Rachel left that night, she hugged Kurt tightly and whispered in his ear. “I think David is lonely. It doesn’t seem like he has many friends and I doubt that any of the ones he does have are true friends.”

 

Kurt looked at her suspiciously, there had to be more to this new friendship between the two, but Kurt couldn’t figure out what it was. Instead of calling her out on it, he just let her head home while he thought about their discussion.

 

He didn’t do anything about it until the next day when he called her on his way to Dalton. “So that hockey game, is there any special dress code?”

 

XxXxX

 

Kurt thought it was delightfully ironic that the first McKinley hockey game he ever attended was after he was no longer a student there. And once again, he had brought a student from Dalton with him to a McKinley game. Only this time, it wasn’t Blaine. Kurt was still doing his best to limit the time the two of them spent outside of school. It still hurt too much to think about being friend zoned. He had thought that the fact that Blaine was gay also meant that they would be together.

 

Sadly, that was not the case. And because of that, Kurt had elected to take Wes with him to the game instead of Blaine. In fact, Blaine had no idea that Kurt was going to another McKinley game and if Kurt had his way, wouldn’t know until well after the fact. The fact that Wes actually enjoyed hockey games and was eager to see one of the top rated players in the state (Dave Karofsky, who knew?) play was a bonus.

 

Rachel had to laugh at the sight of Wes dragging a whining Kurt behind him as they walked to the Lima Ice Rink where the Berry’s waited before the doors.

 

“But why can’t I wear my uniform like I did for the football game? I don’t see why I should be dressed like _this_ for the game!”

 

Wes openly laughed at Kurt. “Because Kurt, it’s an _ice_ rink. It’s cold in there. Even worse than the football game. A scarf and a hat is not enough even if you put your pea coat over it. Suck it up and remember, you’re Kurt Hummel and you know more about fashion that the entirety of the crowd in there,” he consoled as he led the younger teen towards his friend, sharing an eye roll over Kurt’s head in Rachel’s direction.

 

“I heard that,” Kurt muttered as he pulled away from Wes’ grip. He nervously straightened his clothes before squaring his shoulders. “Let’s do this.”

 

XxXxX

 

Dave grinned to himself as he did laps around the rink. While he enjoyed football, hockey was his first love. He had missed the sensation of flying as he skated on the ice and the feeling of slamming the other players against the boards. He barely paid any attention to the crowd as they trickled into the seats until he heard a _very_ loud voice call his name over the sound of the crowd. He looked up, already prepared to wave to Rachel when he stopped in his tracks. Kurt was there! Kurt had actually come to one of his games. His mind raced with the thought as he conveniently ignored the other male next to Kurt.

 

“Pay attention Karofsky!” the coach yelled, snapping Dave out of the daze he had been in. He resumed the laps, each time he passed the section with the Berry’s and Kurt he couldn’t help but peek at them.

 

He noticed after the fifth lap that the other boy with Kurt wasn’t Dapper McEyebrows like he had initially thought, but another unknown boy. _Hmm, maybe Dapper and Kurt aren’t an item like I thought. Either that or they keep their options open_ , he thought. A few minutes later, he piled into the McKinley box with the rest of the team for the pre-game tactics discussion, leaving him no time to think about what Kurt’s presence at the game meant.

 

XxXxX

 

Kurt spent the time before the game started getting a quick rundown of the rules of the game and he still did not really understand what the hell Wes was talking about.  Wes eventually gave up when he realized that Kurt wasn’t getting it.

 

Instead, they all sat back to wait for the beginning of the game. Once the game started, Kurt sat in confusion for a few minutes before he decided to just say screw it and enjoy it even if he didn’t know a damn thing.

 

When the Ice Titans piled off the ice at the end of the game, a game which they had undoubtedly thrashed their competition by a score of 8-2, helped by a hat trick by none other than David Karofsky. Kurt couldn’t help but feel impressed by the way that Dave had dominated the ice, making up for the subpar playing of at least half of the team, including legendary jackass Scott Cooper and Rick ‘the Stick’ Nelson.

 

Wes couldn’t help but be excited at the result of the game. He had been waiting for an opportunity to view the legend in the making in action. He couldn’t help but babble excitedly to the Berry’s about the game and Kurt indulged him by pretending to listen as he scanned the exit waiting to see Dave emerge.

 

He perked up when he finally saw the bigger teen exit the doors, obviously scanning the parking lot for something. Kurt noticed with interest that he smiled widely when Rachel waved at Dave, the bigger teen moving over towards them.

 

“Hey Rachel,” Dave greeted, smiling widely at the petite girl. “Leroy, Hiram…Kurt,” he said, blushing lightly at the fashionista. He looked at Wes with confusion. “I don’t know who the hell you are.”

 

Wes chuckled. “I’m Wes Montgomery. I go to Dalton with Kurt. When he said that he was going to an Ice Titan game, I had to come since I’m a big fan of yours.”

 

Dave blushed harder. “Thanks man.” He looked at Kurt. “What happened to Curly Q? You and he break up?”

 

Kurt sneered slightly at the nickname for Blaine, but he couldn’t help but admire the guy’s ability to make up nicknames on the spot. “We were never together. And he had made it very clear that we will never be.”

 

Inwardly Dave cheered. He might not have a shot at the moment, but at least he doesn’t have to compete with Dapper right now for Kurt’s affections.

 

Leroy and Hiram stepped forward. “Good game Dave,” Leroy congratulated. “Hiram and I were thinking, what do you say about a victory dinner at the China Palace?”

 

Dave subtly eyed Kurt to see if he looked upset at the idea. When Kurt nodded, Dave smiled brightly at Leroy. “Sure. Just let me text my dad and let him know.” He pulled out his phone and sent off a quick text. They all piled into the two cars and headed off to the restaurant.

 

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

The Monday after the game found Kurt walking into Dalton with a spring in his step. While the game had been fun and it had amused him greatly to see Wes remove that stick from his ass, it was the events after the game that left him puzzled. He genuinely thought the dinner was going to be a disaster. He thought he would be disgusted with the dinner habits of the jock against the incredibly elegant Hiram and Leroy Berry, their fashion-challenged, but still cultured, daughter, and a prep school trained boy as well as himself.

 

However, someone had trained Dave well. He didn’t talk with his mouth full, kept his elbows off the table, and knew how to effortlessly use his chopsticks. He had even been able to somewhat keep up with the topics that the five others discussed, only putting his foot in it once. Then again, he should have known better than to comment on fashion, even Rachel knew better than to comment when her dads and Kurt got going.

 

However, when the subject of hockey came up, Dave became animated. He began using his chopsticks to emphasize his points as he talked. And he even brought up advanced geometric formulas to explain why he used certain shots when he could instead of others. And when he brought up calculus to further emphasize his points, the eyebrows of everyone at the table rose except for Rachel’s. She already knew about his talent in math. He would pick her up from her class after his fourth period Calculus class at least three times a week.

 

As he got closer to the building, Kurt saw Blaine waiting for him outside the entrance. He had to stifle a sigh. How had he not noticed that Blaine was very possessive of his time before now? Kurt couldn’t hold in the snort at that train of thought. He knew _exactly_ why he didn’t notice before and it all boiled down to Blaine’s lovely eyes and golden voice.

 

“Kurt!” Blaine called, trotting up to the older teen like a dog greeting his master. He nearly let out a laugh at that mental image.

 

“Yes Blaine?” Kurt asked, trying to keep his voice even.

 

“Where were you this weekend? I tried calling you to see if you wanted to do something on Friday but you didn’t answer. Your Dad answered the house phone on Saturday and he told me that you weren’t home, but didn’t give any specifics.”

 

Kurt had to smile at that. Apparently even his dad had picked up on Kurt’s cooling feelings for Blaine. The sophomore was a wonderful friend…but there was no reason that he had to be Kurt’s _only_ Dalton friend. As spending time with Wes on Friday proved.

 

Kurt busied himself with looking for something in his book bag as he answered. “I went to a hockey game with Rachel and her dads on Friday. I had turned my phone off for the game and forgot to turn it back on,” he said idly.

 

Blaine’s jaw dropped. “ _You_ went to a hockey game? The boy Finn and I practically had to beg to go to a football game, the _championship_ game that your brother and friends would be playing in.”

 

Kurt frowned as he looked up. “You don’t have to sound so surprised,” he sniped, adjusting the strap as he picked up his pace, suddenly wanting to leave Blaine behind.

 

“It was my fault,” Wes said from behind the two, startling them as neither of them knew he had been behind them. He walked up to Kurt and threw his arm around Kurt’s shoulder in a friendly embrace. “You know how I am when it comes to hockey. Offer to take me to a game and I’m yours,” he said, batting his eyelashes playfully. “Take me to dinner also and I’ll put out,” he joked.

 

Kurt laughed loudly, suddenly getting the feeling that Wes would get along with Puck extremely well. “I think Hiram and Leroy realized that on Friday,” he snarked. “I’m pretty sure by the end of the night you were ready to hump their legs in gratitude.” He smirked widely. “Not to mention how you practically molested Dave at the table as he talked about other teams he’s played against.”

 

Wes blushed lightly. “I do not have a hockey fetish!” he protested loudly, causing several Dalton students to stop as they saw the stern Warbler council president act like a normal teen. “Besides, don’t think I didn’t notice you eye fucking Dave at the table Kurtis!”

 

Kurt’s face turned crimson. “I did not _eye fuck_ him!” he screeched. “I _may_ have admired his arms,” he said primly.

 

Wes’ grin resembled a shark suddenly. “Uh huh. His arms and don’t think I didn’t notice the looks at his ass as he left to go to the bathroom.”

 

Kurt elbowed Wes in the side, causing the arm around his shoulder to dislodge as they walked into the entrance. “Like you wouldn’t have bent over there at the table if he asked you to,” he shot back, not noticing as they slowly picked up other Warblers as they walked through the hall.

 

“What are you two giggling about over here?” David asked as he joined his best friend and their newest, and secretly the favorite, Warbler.

 

“Don’t you dare,” Wes warned as Kurt opened his mouth.

 

Kurt’s smirk widened. “Just how Wes practically jumped into the lap of a hunky hockey player on Friday after his game.”

 

David grinned at Wes. “So you finally met Dave Karofsky?” he asked, sounding like he had gotten both his birthday and Christmas presents early.

 

“Ooh, Wes met his crush?” Thad asked, stepping onto the other side of Kurt, the four walking side by side in the hall, creating a powerful image as they walked through the halls.

 

Blaine just trailed behind them, his mouth gaping open as he watched Kurt effortlessly integrate himself into the Warblers. Blaine had always felt assured about his place in the Warblers; Thad’s obvious man-crush on him sort of insured that. However, watching Kurt suddenly be all buddy-buddy with the nominal leaders of the Warblers meant that Blaine was suddenly not at all sure of his place in the Warblers.

 

XxXxX

 

Dave walked into McKinley on Monday and was immediately accosted by Azimio. “Alright dude, tell it to me straight. You’re getting some from Berry right? Because if you’re not, then what the hell is going on? We used to slushie the hell out of her, now you’re walking arm in arm with her?”

 

Dave grabbed Azimio’s arm and pulled him off to the side of the hall. “First of all Zee, her name is Rachel. She’s my friend. I’m sure you heard from Israel’s blog about the attack on her dad, right?” He continued at Azimio’s nod. “I was the one to find him. That attack was fucked up dude. He was just lucky that I was going to visit my dad. If I hadn’t been walking through the garage, he would have died before he was found. Anyway, we got to talking at the hospital and she’s agreed to forget the past in exchange for her dad’s life. I _like_ her dads,” he stressed that point. “They’re a bit like Hummel, but also a little like a regular dude too.”

 

Azimio stared at Dave silently for a bit. “Does she know?” he asked quietly, referring to the thing they never discussed. It involved football camp the year before and Azimio catching Dave showering with one of the assistant coaches. There was a reason why Azimio had avoided gay slurs for the most part that year.

 

Dave shifted slightly before nodding. “Yeah. So does Dad.”

 

Azimio’s eyebrow rose. “Your dad knows? How? And how did it go?”

 

Dave sighed before slumping against the wall. “Yeah. Apparently I went into shock after finding Mr. Berry. I had to go to the hospital and I accidentally left my phone in the garage. Dad found the picture,” he said quietly. Azimio had actually been the one to take the picture that was Dave’s phone wallpaper. Dave had never felt like he was luckier with his choice of best friends than the moment the picture was texted to him at the beginning of the school year.

 

“And? How did Mr. K take it?”

 

Dave smiled slightly. “You know Dad. He’s got nothing against gays. He just hugged me and told me it was okay.”

 

Suddenly Dave saw Rachel approaching from the opposite direction than she usually did and he turned his head to greet her only to stop in surprise. It wasn’t Rachel at all. It was Brittany Pierce _dressed_ like Rachel.

 

Azimio followed his gaze and he gaped. “What the hell?”

 

“Good morning David,” Rachel chirped from their other side, causing both boys to jump.

 

Dave smiled at Rachel. “Hey Rach.” He could see his two friends eying each other warily and snorted. “Rachel Berry, meet my best friend Azimio Adams. Zee, meet the pain in my ass that somehow still masquerades as my friend, Rachel Berry. Now, you two play nice. Zee promises to not slushie you anymore Rach. Just please be nice to each other.” Dave accepted the accompanying smack on his arm for the ‘pain in my ass’ comment.

 

“Charming David,” Rachel deadpanned. She got ready to head towards her locker when she was stopped by Azimio.

 

“By the way Berry, why the hell is Pierce dressed like you?”

 

Rachel flushed, grabbing Dave’s arm as they walked towards her locker. “I needed to make a comeback. So I thought if I had Brittany make the look more popular and if she listed me as inspiration, then my status in the school would rise.”

 

Dave’s eyebrow rose. “You do realize that the rumors that Puckerman is spreading are already raising your status, right? And by the way, what the hell is going on with you two?”

 

Rachel’s cheeks pinkened at the question. “I have no idea what you’re implying David,” she said primly.

 

Dave scoffed, as if he believed that statement for an instant. “Sure Rach. Just let me know when you figure it out,” he offered, looking down the hall as Puckerman spotted Rachel, his face lighting up a bit as he saw the girl.

 

XxXxX

 

By Wednesday, half of the guys in the Glee club looked like Justin Beiber and almost 80% of the female student population were dressing like Rachel. Only, they all attributed the look to Brittany and not the girl who had been dressing that way for years.

 

Dave snorted as he heard Quinn praise the same style that she had mocked the year before and he couldn’t resist snapping a picture of the three Glee girls clustered in front of a locker. He then sent the picture to Wes with the instructions of forwarding the picture to Kurt.

 

XxXxX

 

Kurt jumped as he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He smiled in apology at Jeff as the blonde Warbler talked about his date with Nick the weekend before. His eyebrow rose as he saw he had a foreword from Wes from Dave. He nearly did a spit take when he saw the outfits. “Dear Mama Monster,” he breathed. What the hell was McKinley thinking?

 

 _Please tell me you are not participating in this folly_? He begged Mercedes in a text with the picture included.

 

 _Not a chance baby_. Mercedes replied.

 

Kurt sighed. At least his world hadn’t completely turned upside down.

 

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won’t lie, I adore Wes with a fiery passion, so it is no surprise that I would try and have his and Kurt’s friendship be closer than canon. And with the introduction of Hiram and Leroy finally on the show, I’ll try and alter their personalities a bit to fit the canon representation.


	6. Chapter 6

 

Dave whistled as he danced around his room. Paul watched his son through the cracked door, surprised at what the friendship of a tiny, loud Jewish girl could do to his angry, stoic son.  He couldn’t help but snicker quietly when he realized that Dave was singing the lyrics to “Do the Hippogryff” from the fourth Harry Potter movie. When Dave began strutting like a less flamboyant Mick Jagger, Paul lost it and burst out laughing.

 

Dave jumped when he heard his dad laughing. His face burned bright red when he saw the crack in his door and his father slumped against the wall, giggling like an overgrown 4 year old. “Dad! Can I have a little privacy?”

 

Paul reluctantly pulled himself together and faced his son. “Sorry Dave, it was just too funny. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that Rachel’s dads called and they were wondering if we wanted to come to dinner at their house tonight. Apparently Hiram has a new recipe that Leroy wants to try, but I seem to remember Rachel saying that her family was a take-out family. So it could either be delicious or a disaster.”

 

Dave laughed. “I think Kurt has been tutoring Leroy,” Dave said, not noticing Paul jump a bit at Dave’s casual mention of the boy he had driven out of McKinley.

 

“Kurt? Kurt Hummel?”

 

Dave looked at his dad, suddenly realizing that his Dad didn’t know that he was on sort-of-good terms with Kurt. “Yeah. He came to my game last week with Rachel and her dads. He brought a friend from his new school, one that likes hockey and apparently thinks I’m the coolest player ever.” He laughed a bit as he remembered the way Wes acted. If he hadn’t overheard Wes talking to his girlfriend on the phone after dinner was over, Dave would have thought that the Asian guy was hitting on him.

 

Paul’s eyebrow rose. “Gay?”

 

Dave laughed again louder. “Not unless Sally is a _really_ unusual nickname for a guy. Nah, apparently Wes is in Kurt’s new glee club and has a lot of gay friends, so he’s really cool with gay people. Which is a good thing since he was surrounded by them: Kurt, Rachel’s dads, me.” He trailed off when he realized that he had just admitted his sexuality out loud easily without having been in a heightened emotional state.

 

Paul walked over to his son and hugged him tightly, also having realized the importance of what Dave had just admitted. Dave might not remember, but that day in the hospital, Dave hadn’t actually said the words ‘I’m gay’, out loud.

 

The Karofsky men hugged tightly for a few moments more before Paul stepped back and sniffed and wiped at his suspiciously wet eyes. “So, what do you say to the dinner at the Berry’s?”

 

Dave nodded. “Sounds good. I reserve the right to refuse vegan food though,” he said, having remembered that Rachel and Hiram were vegans. Paul grimaced, he had forgotten also.

 

The two moved to do their own things, Dave to get dressed for dinner and Paul to call the Berry’s back. Paul was still dressed for church and just had to put his jacket back on. He quickly dialed the cell number that he had been given that day in the hospital.

 

The phone had barely rang before it was answered. “Leroy Berry speaking. How may I help you Paul?”

 

Paul chuckled at the upbeat voice of the other man. He now understood where Rachel got it. “Just calling you back to let you know that Dave is up for dinner tonight.”

 

“Great. Hiram! We have confirmation of the Karofskys. Little Star, set two more places.” Paul could hear the voices of Hiram and Rachel Berry in the background. “I hope you do not mind if one of Rachel’s friends eats with us, Paul.”

 

Paul immediately thought of Kurt, and if it was, he hoped that he could re-meet the teen in a better circumstance. “Oh?” he asked evenly.

 

Leroy laughed at something on his end. “Yes, Noah Puckerman has been coming around lately ever since Hiram’s attack. He is such a nice boy.”

 

Paul’s eyebrow rose. _Nice boy_ was not how he would usually describe Puck. He did remember Dave mentioning something about Puck and Rachel. _Maybe he’s been hanging around for some reason other than being a_ good friend, Paul thought. “I’ll leave you to finish what you have to do Leroy. Dave and I will see you later.” The two men exchanged good-byes before hanging up.

 

Paul headed for his office to check his work email before leaving for dinner. A few minutes later, in the middle of composing a message, Paul heard Dave behind him in the office door. “I hope you’re not fighting with Noah Puckerman at the moment David, because he will be joining us for dinner at the Berry’s.”

 

Dave snorted. “Of course he is. He won’t say yes or no, but I’m pretty sure he’s got a thing for Rachel.”

 

Paul made a noncommittal noise and finished up the email he was working on. When he finished, he powered down his computer. “Well, time to go. Let’s hope the food is edible,” he joked.

 

Dave smirked and followed his father out the door.

 

XxXxX

 

Dave walked into school the following day and was relieved to see no more Rachel clones walking around. He did hear rumors of it being an Alcohol Awareness Week though and snorted. That reeked of a Figgins idea and he knew it would probably end with an assembly and a performance by New Directions. The Brittany Spears performance was still fresh in his mind as well as the riot begun by Coach Sylvester as he moved to his locker.

 

“Good morning David,” Rachel chirped from beside him.

 

“Hey Rach. So why the hell are your dads going on a cruise in the middle of the week and leaving you alone?” he asked.

 

Rachel smiled. “They have had this trip planned for months now. And after Dad’s attack, they felt that they really needed the time away. And they do not need to worry about leaving me alone.”

 

Dave eyed Rachel skeptically. “And that has nothing to do with the party that Puck told me you planned for tomorrow night?”

 

Rachel huffed. “Noah has no right telling you about the party before I got the chance.”

 

Dave looked surprised. “You mean he was serious? I thought he was yanking my chain since I didn’t think you’d ever actually throw a party.”

 

Rachel sniffed delicately and stuck her nose in the air. “I am not the innocent young thing that you and Noah seem to think I am. I am perfectly capable of enjoying a party as the next girl.”

 

Dave scoffed mentally; however he knew better than to voice it. Rachel was tiny but vicious.

 

Rachel perked up as she seemed to remember something. “Anyway, I came over to invite you to the party. I know things with Finn are a little shaky right now, but screw him. If he cannot accept my friendship with you, even after Kurt forgave you, then he doesn’t matter. You’re my friend and it’s my party, so please come.”

 

Dave thought about it as they made their way to Rachel’s first class. “Will Kurt be there?”

 

Rachel frowned. “It’s a New Directions party, so he’s certainly invited, but I don’t know if he’ll want to since we’re rivals for Regionals at the moment.” She thought for a moment. “Why, would you have a problem if he did?”

 

Dave shook his head emphaticly. “Not at all. But I wouldn’t want to make him uncomfortable if he didn’t want to see me right now. I know the dinner went well and we’ve been texting a bit, mostly through Wes passing on messages,” and didn’t that just sound fucking stupid when he said it out loud? “But I honestly don’t know if he wants to be around me right now.”

 

Rachel walked halfway into her classroom before turning back to Dave. “Just show up. If he doesn’t want you to be there, you are always feel free to leave,” she offered.

 

Dave nodded. “Alright Rach.” He walked off towards his own class.

 

XxXxX

 

Rachel finished up her last check of her hair before walking downstairs to wait for the others to arrive. She fussed with her green dress and waited for the doorbell to ring.

 

The first to arrive was Dave, accompanied by a bag with a couple bottles of wine and a couple six packs of beer. “Compliments of my dad. If your dads ask, he was here observing us the entire time,” he said, grinning.

 

Rachel laughed. “Have I ever told him how cool he is?”

 

“No, but I’m sure he’d be happy to hear it,” Dave said, walking easily through the rooms to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and reached to the back for the bottle of Kahula. “You guys can drink that shit, leave me with my rum and coffee liquor,” he said, reaching in the bag he held for a bottle of whole milk. There was no way he was tainting his liquor with the soy milk the Berry’s drank.

 

Rachel wrinkled her nose at the milk but didn’t say anything.

 

Dave ignored Rachel and grabbed some ice from the freezer before pouring some of the liquor over the ice and filling the glass with the milk. He stirred the glass before tasting it and adjusting the strength of the alcohol until it was how he liked it. Once he had his drink, he turned back to Rachel. “So, when does this shindig start?”

 

Rachel glanced at the clock on the microwave. “Well, I told them to come an hour ago,” she said, fretting over the fact that no one was there.

 

Dave snorted. “You should have told them to be there an hour before you actually wanted the party to start. That way, they would only be fifteen to thirty minutes late. You’ve never thrown a party in high school, have you?”

 

Rachel pinkened. “Just birthday parties and those have always been tightly structured and planned by my fathers.”

 

Dave shook his head and took a bracing sip of his drink. He hoped someone else showed up soon or he would end up comforting Rachel…and he really didn’t feel like it at the moment.

 

Thankfully the doorbell rang soon after, bringing Puck to the party. Dave didn’t even bother rolling his eyes; the guy was so transparent that it wasn’t funny anymore. He simply fist bumped Puck and waved him towards the beer.

 

A half-hour later, everyone had arrived except for Finn and were gathered in Rachel’s basement. Dave had set himself up on the couch and was observing the way the other Glee club members treated Rachel. He could tell that all of them were desperate to get out of there but for some reason were hesitant to say it. Every now and then, Dave would exchange words with Zizes, who was sitting next to him by the couch. They had been discussing the merits of hockey versus wrestling and who had more of a chance of making a career out of it than the other. So far, Dave was sure that Zizes was going to bring home a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. 2012 if she started training now.

 

The doorbell rang upstairs and Dave took a deep drink from his cup, already envisioning the explosion when Finn saw him there. However, all thought of Finn escaped his mind when he saw a vision in-bondage gear? coming down the stairs. Dave was too busy enjoying the sight of Kurt in a bright red shirt to notice the tiny guy in maroon next to him. However, he was pulled out of his daydreams when the guy spoke. Dave scowled into his cup.

 

Kurt walked up to where Rachel was handing out tickets and he looked around the basement. He had taken a cursory glance around when taking off his jacket moments earlier but had failed to notice the guy scowling into his cup and apparently trying to blend into the frankly horrifying patterned couch. Kurt snorted at the thought. Despite his talent for sneaking up behind people, David Karofsky was anything but invisible. Kurt wanted to go over and sit by Dave, but thought that it would probably be best to keep Dave and Blaine apart until he was able to get at least a couple drinks into Blaine. Kurt then noticed that at the other end of the couch, Sam and Santana were making out and Kurt bet that Dave was also trying to drown himself in whatever was in the cup to avoid having to watch the two exchange saliva.

 

Kurt kept up a running commentary with Blaine in hopes that the curly haired boy wouldn’t notice Dave sitting on the couch. Kurt wasn’t sure if Rachel had told Blaine about her newfound friendship with Dave, especially since he knew that Blaine and Rachel talked to each other at least twice a week to discuss how they should get all the solos and any solo that someone else got was a wasted opportunity. He snorted mentally, okay that thought was just a trifle mean, but Kurt was tired of playing backup to Blaine’s constant solos. He let himself drift off while mindlessly chatting with Blaine. He wondered if Wes would be willing to do an Angel-off with him during the next week. He also wondered if Dave could sing, because if he could, judging by the natural timbre of his voice, he might be able to sing Collins to Kurt’s Angel. And if he could, then Kurt and Wes could both have David’s to play their Collins.

 

Kurt was jolted out of the daydream by Rachel’s screech of “Let’s Party!”

 

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

 

An hour and a half later, practically everyone was wasted. Thankfully, according to Kurt, once Blaine had some alcohol in his system, he was less likely to yell at Dave when he noticed him. There _was_ a confrontation, but it was tame compared to what it would have been usually. There had only been a mild exclamation of “What the fuck is _he_ doing here?”

 

To which Dave had simply grunted out a “Stay the fuck out of this Hairgel. I was invited by Rachel.” He had then drifted over to the bar to pour himself more Kahula. Even Finn had stayed out of the argument, knowing that he _had_ to be there as the designated driver and that if he started shit, Puck would forcibly remove him from the party and then the party would be left without a DD.

 

Finn did seethe a bit later on in the party when he noticed Rachel hanging all over Dave, cooing out soft words to the jock who just smiled indulgently at the girl. He _really_ didn’t like seeing Rachel so cozy with Dave and it also bothered him to see Kurt friendly with the boy that used to bully him. He knew it was hypocritical of him to want to see Kurt keep a grudge, especially since Kurt had forgiven him, but it would totally make him feel better to see Dave taken down a peg or two. He did wonder when Blaine and Dave had met though.

 

Kurt, being one of the ones to not drink, watched the different groups. He laughed when Dave had done shots with the others while playing quarters. The disgusted look on Dave’s face was the amusing part. He had been dancing by Blaine when Rachel had decided to start chugging one of the wine coolers. After she finished it, she had let out a huge burp, gripping the microphone.

 

“It tastes like pink!” she screeched, grinning widely. “IT TASTES LIKE PINK!”

 

Kurt also amused himself by watching Lauren’s glasses migrate around the room on different people than their owner. At first Quinn had been wearing them, then sometime around when Rachel had chugged the cooler, Puck was wearing them. Kurt was pretty sure _Dave_ had been wearing them at some point, but he wasn’t completely sure since they were on him for such a brief moment.

 

Kurt had been dancing with Dave, with Blaine flailing in the background, when Finn wandered over to them. “Are you not drinking?” Kurt asked, doing some kind of arm movement.

 

“No, designated driver. How about you?”

 

Kurt shook his head. “No, not after the events of last year. Throwing up on Miss Pillsbury was enough for me,” he shouted over the music.

 

Blaine ambled over.  “Hey it is so cool that you and Kurt are brothers. Right? Like, brothers. Wow! You’re so tall,” he slurred, staring up at Finn. Kurt had to wrap an arm around the other Warbler to move him somewhere where he wouldn’t hurt himself, especially since he tripped when walking away. Dave however, being a happy guy drunk mixed with a bit of an angry drunk, snorted meanly with a giggle when Blaine tripped.

 

Rachel, trying to work out her issues with Finn now that her barriers were down due to alcohol, ambled over to Finn. “Hey, dance with me. We had it going on right? I wasn’t making it up or anything?” She looked up at him with a smile, not noticing a glowering Puck on the other side of the room. It should have told him something that he was so angry at the sight since he was actually a really mellow and horny drunk.

 

Finn peeled Rachel off of him. “Okay Rachel, since this is your first time at this, I’m going to break this down for you. Guys and girls fall into certain archetypes when they’re drunk. Exhibit A: Santana, the weepy, hysterical drunk. Lauren Zizes and Quinn, the angry girl drunk. Brittany, also known as ‘the girl who turns into a stripper’ drunk. Mercedes and Tina, the happy girl drunks. And we come back full circle to you, Rachel, and right now you’re being the needy girl drunk. Hanging all over me, being overly lovey, it’s not cool.” He pointed out the examples as he explained.

 

Dave, who was still dancing nearby, could hear the whole thing and he frowned. “Lay off her dude,” he muttered, his voice lost in the music.

 

However, he needn’t have worried because Rachel just glared at him and stood up. “What kind of girl is this?” she asked, holding out her arms wide. “Let’s play Spin the Bottle!” she yelled. “Who wants to play Spin the Bottle?” She leaned down and yelled the next bit in Finn’s ear. “Spin the Bottle!”

 

They quickly cleared a space on the rug and Dave managed to pull a checkers board from somewhere. If anyone but Finn and Kurt had been sober, they would have wondered how he knew where to look. Rachel handed over the bottle to the cooler she had been drinking earlier and they used that. Dave sat between Tina and Lauren, almost across from Kurt. For some reason that he didn’t really get, Mike was practically lying almost on top of Puck, something that Puck didn’t seem to mind.

 

Puck had started them off, spinning Artie. Puck had simply grinned drunkenly and slunk over to the boy in the wheelchair and had planted one right on him. The game had gone on for a couple rounds before Puck had spun a result that Dave thought he would be all for, but Puck actually seemed to hesitate: Rachel.

 

Rachel obviously saw the hesitance too, only she just rolled her eyes and yanked on his shirt. “Come on Noah,” she encouraged, crushing their mouths together.

 

Dave kept his eyes on Puck when they separated, so he was pretty sure he was the only one to see the fiery blush on the self-proclaimed ‘sex-shark’ as he pulled back from a chaste kiss with their resident diva. When it was his turn, Dave couldn’t tell if he got extremely lucky or unfortunate. He spun Kurt.

 

Kurt looked across the circle at the blushing Dave before crawling into the middle of the circle. “Scared Karofsky?” he asked archly.

 

Dave couldn’t let that challenge go unmet and he also crawled into the middle. “Let me know if this is uncomfortable,” he whispered before taking Kurt’s lips in a passionate kiss.

 

Finn was confused when Dave didn’t protest having to kiss Kurt, however, when they kissed, suddenly a lot of things made sense to him.

 

As the kiss went on, Blaine looked on with mounting fury. After about half a minute, he yanked on Kurt to separate them. “Let him go!” he growled, his anger making him sound less drunk than he was.

 

“Stop it Blaine!” Kurt snapped, pulling his arm out of Blaine’s grip. “It’s just a game!”

 

Dave moved back to his seat, suddenly crushed. He didn’t know why he had allowed himself to hope. Obviously Kurt wasn’t interested in him, not when he had the perfect hobbit in his life. He sat back and sulked, not noticing the pitying looks thrown at him from both Rachel and Puck and the curious look from Kurt, who was ignoring the chattering coming from Blaine by his side.

 

Dave was out of it for the next round, including the fact that for some reason it was now running in the opposite direction than it had been from the beginning. He wasn’t pressed to participate again, because apparently Tina and Lauren had also picked up on his sudden depression since they just skipped over him. He was pulled back out of his head when everyone started whooping and Santana started yelling. He looked up to see Sam and Brittany kissing. He blinked. Well, hell. No wonder Satan was yelling, there was the girl everyone knew she had feelings for kissing the boy who was supposedly her boyfriend. She probably didn’t know which one to yell at and so just settled for yelling at the both of them. He smiled fondly when Rachel spun the bottle excitedly and he felt his eyes go wide when it landed on Blaine. Everyone else was laughing up a storm, but a bad feeling settled in Dave’s gut.

 

Kurt had laughed outrageously at what he thought was going to be a funny scene. “This is outstanding!”

 

“Blaine Warbler, I’m gonna rock your world,” Rachel slurred as she crawled over to him. Their innocent kiss soon evolved into a full on make out session. Everyone looked on uncomfortable at the two, their cheers turning into a kind of collective ‘what the fuck am I watching’ moment.

 

Kurt watched the two kiss with detached eyes. A month before he would have been extremely upset and probably would have cried out something like “I think that’s all that we need to see of that!” However, seeing as he didn’t have feelings for Blaine any longer, he could watch without being emotionally invested in it. He tilted his head to the side and continued to watch until they separated.

 

“Your face…tastes awesome,” Rachel whispered against Blaine. “I think I’ve found a new duet partner!” she yelled, grabbing a hold of Blaine’s sweater and falling against Kurt while she laughed.

 

Dave rolled his eyes, _she was so drunk_ , he thought with a giggle.

 

When the two climbed onto Rachel’s stage to sing the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me”, Dave sidled over to Kurt and touched his arm gently. “You okay?”

 

Kurt smirked at Dave. “I now know what it looks like to kiss yourself,” he stated.

 

Dave couldn’t help the loud snort he let out at that statement. It told him all he needed to know about Kurt’s emotional state. He put an arm around Kurt’s shoulder and settled in against the piano to enjoy the show the hobbits were putting on.

 

XxXxX

 

The alcohol was obviously still affecting Dave when he passed out that night because he had the _oddest_ dream. He was back at Rachel’s party only instead of Blaine being there, Wes was sitting across from him. Wes was still clad in the Dalton uniform when he spun the bottle and it landed on Dave. “Dave Karofsky,” he slurred as he crawled across the circle, “I’m gonna rock your world.”

 

Even in a drunken dream, Dave could only feel shock as the Asian young man’s lips crashed over his.

 

When he woke up in the morning, he didn’t remember a thing, except for a vague image of Wes…

 

XxXxX

 

Dave was grateful for his dad the next day because Paul let him sleep his hangover away instead of making him get up. He was so grateful for the weekend because he didn’t think that he would have been able to function well enough for school and his grades had slipped enough this year as it was.

 

He noticed that the glee kids all looked like death warmed over at school and he figured that none of them were as well versed in getting rid of hangovers as he was. He was surprised at Santana and Puck’s apparent hangovers when he _knew_ they drank more often than he did. It came to him in the middle of first period, they had probably continued drinking the day after the party and so their hangover was new and not related to the party. He knew the only thing that could drive someone to drink outside a party was emotions, so the party had probably dragged up emotions that neither were ready to deal with just yet. He just nodded at the group as he walked to his locker.

 

XxXxX

 

Later that week, directly after the Alcohol Awareness assembly, a stunned Dave mechanically exited the gym and walked out into the courtyard. He then pulled out his phone and pressed the 7 on the speed dial. He waited for the person on the other end to pick up.

 

“Hello?” chirped the sweet voice of Kurt Hummel.

 

“You’ll never guess what just happened…”

 

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Kurt eyed Blaine as he stood in the Lima Bean, apparently mentally figuring out what number would add the right amount of sexy to the Warbler repertoire. He couldn’t believe that Blaine was taking what Coach Sylvester had told them at face value, but then again, Blaine had never met the woman, so he didn’t know that Sue _always_ had an angle. “Blaine?” he asked tentatively, but the younger teen just ignored him. He sighed, pulling on the sophomore’s arm. “If you’re going to go through that mental music library, at least sit down first.” He shoved Blaine into a chair before taking his own seat and pulling out his phone. _Save me from Anderson’s need for more solos_ , he begged Wes in a melodramatic text.

 

“I’m Sexy and I Know It” blared out of Kurt’s phone’s speakers, signaling a text from the Warbler president. _What’s he doing now?_

 

Kurt smirked. Apparently not even Wes was unaware of Blaine’s need for the spotlight. _My old cheerleading coach, who is heading the Aural Intensity team this year, just ambushed us at the Lima Bean and gave us inside information on the New Directions. I don’t trust it. She has an agenda for everything she does. It’s just not clear to me yet what she hopes to gain from this._

 

Wes responded quickly. _And what is this information supposed to be?_

 

Kurt glanced at Blaine, who was still staring off in the distance and just called Wes. “Supposedly New Directions is planning on doing a sexy number for Regionals. I don’t buy it. Sure, Mr. Schue was allowing more risqué numbers a few months ago, but I just don’t see him doing a deliberately sexy number. Besides, according to Dave, the substitute sex education teacher was trying to teach through song since despite Quinn’s pregnancy, the club’s education is lacking.”

 

Wes chuckled in Kurt’s ear, who could hear the distinctive clacking of computer keyboard keys. “ _Has Dave given in to Rachel yet and joined the club_?”

 

Kurt laughed and leaned back in his seat, ignoring Blaine who was among the living again. “Not yet. Rachel keeps calling me about it. She thinks that after the events of the party Dave will listen to me.”

 

Blaine scowled at the reminder of the party. Kurt ignored him.

 

 _“You two are doing this on purpose aren’t you? To torture her?_ ” Wes asked, finishing up his essay so he could give his full attention to Kurt.

 

“You mean refuse to date?” Kurt drank some of his coffee. “Dave and I plan on talking to my dad later this week. Dave refuses to take me out until he’s cleared the air with my dad. It’s sweet and I’m hoping my dad sees it that way too.” He didn’t mention that he had already talked to Paul Karofsky over the weekend after he accidentally ran into the man at the grocery store. “As for Dave’s continued refusal to join glee, you’ll have to talk to him about that.” He could see Blaine starting to look impatient at being ignored. “Wes, I’ll talk to you later. Blainers looks neglected,” he said, smiling at his friend. They exchanged good-byes and Kurt hung up. “Did you come up with something?” Kurt asked sweetly.

 

Blaine just pouted at him before grudgingly relating his idea.

 

XxXxX

 

Dave was sitting in his room, playing a game on his Xbox when his phone played the Star Wars theme. Unbeknownst to the majority of the New Directions, Evans and he had actually sat and had a discussion during the party the week before about Kurt. It was during the time when Rachel and Hobbit Hairgel had been singing up a storm on the stage and Santana had disappeared to drink some more. Dave didn’t really remember most of the discussion but he did remember them coming to the conclusion that Kurt was really a Jedi. He was like a ninja, but with a sense of right and wrong that equaled none other. _Oh right_ , he thought, grabbing his phone from his bed. “Hello?” he asked, not bothering to pause his game.

 

It was a good thing that Dave already knew Kurt was on the other side of the phone, because the string of unintelligible French that spewed through the speaker would have confused him otherwise. He was shocked to hear the usually so well spoken teen spewing French invectives, which were naturally the only words that Dave remembered from his two years in the language.

 

“Bad day?” Dave asked calmly after Kurt finished is rant. He was rewarded by a soft laugh from the other side of the telephone.

 

 _“You have_ no _idea,_ ” Kurt sighed, sounding calmer already. _“I just had my first Warbler solo and Blaine had to say something after that just ruined my whole day._ ”

 

“I can kick his ass for you if you want,” Dave offered, shooting a zombie straight in the face and imagining it was Hairgel Hobbit. He was rewarded with a laugh at the offer. “No? Well then, what did the pint sized douche say that pissed you off so much?”

 

Kurt sighed. _“Do you really want to know?”_

 

“Uh duh. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to know dummy.”

 

Kurt laughed. _“Such loving things you say to me,_ ” he said dramatically. _“Okay. Blaine came up with the song to put some sexy into the Warblers, I told you about that right?”_ Receiving a confirming grunt, he continued. “ _Well, we performed it today in front of some of the girls from the sister school. They loved it. But after it was over, after getting hit on by some of the girls, Blaine came over to me and asked me if something was wrong. I, of course, had no idea what he was referring to. He said that my sexy faces looked like I had gas!”_

 

Dave stopped what he was doing and was mauled by an overweight zombie. He made a face at the loss and paused the game. “What the fuck? Does Hairgel Hobbit not know about the faces _he_ makes while singing? He looks constipated the majority of the time, and when he doesn’t, he looks like he’s auditioning for Scream, The Musical.” He could hear a snort of laughter from his hopefully-soon-to-be-boyfriend. “Sure, he sings good, but I don’t think he has any room to talk about faces. Besides, you’re smoking hot.”

 

Kurt gasped on the other side of the phone. _“Do you really think so?”_

 

“Please Fancy, like you don’t know you’re hot as hell? Each and every time you wore a skirt to school, I wanted to rip it off of you and show you just how much I liked the way they looked.”

 

Kurt scoffed. _“Now you’re just trying to make me feel better._ ”

 

Dave smirked. “Try thinking back to how I acted around you when you were wearing a skirt and get back to me. _I_ have some zombies I need to kill before Zee completely disowns me and demotes me to Brawl only.”

 

Dave grinned at the eye roll he could almost hear along with the muttered _“Boys.”_ from Kurt before they hung up.

 

XxXxX

 

The next day, Kurt was severely pissed off with Blaine after the attempted lesson and he just lay back on his bed and daydreamed. For some reason, his mind kept drifting back to what Dave had said the day before, about being _appreciative_ of the skirts that he had worn. So he did what Dave asked, thought back to the times that Dave had been harassing him when Kurt was wearing a skirt.

 

Five minutes later, a flushing Kurt ripped himself out of his memories and he panted as he recalled the way Dave’s eyes had darkened as they roamed over the way the skirts either showed off his legs or hugged his ass. “Damn you,” he whispered, feeling the way his pants had tightened at that… _hot_ look in Dave’s eyes. Normally, he would call the other teen and berate him for causing these feelings, but he knew that Dave would be at football conditioning until after five, and would then probably spend another forty-five minutes to an hour lifting weights.

 

He sighed and closed his eyes and began using calming exercises to calm himself down enough so that he could head downstairs to start dinner.

 

XxXxX

 

Kurt and Dave had agreed to speak to Mr. Hummel on Thursday afternoon after he finished at the shop. They figured that it would be easier to get on his good side on a day that wasn’t family night and that it wouldn’t be a good idea to interrupt him at work.

 

So the two of them sat on the Hummel’s couch, waiting for Burt to come home. They didn’t even hold hands, not knowing if the sight would set off Burt’s protective instincts before they could have a chance to speak to him.

 

Carole already knew about the two of them, seeming to instinctively know before they even told her anything. She had just stared Dave down and told him that he had better treat Kurt well, or she would hunt him down herself.

 

They were waiting for about fifteen minutes before Burt stroked through the front door, slamming it closed behind him, causing the two on the couch to jump. Their movement alerted Burt to their presence.

 

Eyes narrowing, Burt stares hard at the kid that drove his son out of McKinley. “What the hell is he doing here?” He could see how both of them looked really nervous for some reason and his eyes zoomed in on the fact that their hands kept brushing, almost linking before they caught themselves. “Hell no!” he snarled, things suddenly starting to link up in his mind.

 

Kurt could see that his father was making the connections. He hardens his gaze and keeps his chin up as he met his father’s eyes, trying to not flinch at the anger in them. He decided to face his father head on by grabbing Dave’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “Yes.”

 

Dave’s head whipped back and forth as he looked between the two Hummels, barely registering his hand being taken. “Mr. Hummel,” he starts, only to be cut off by Kurt’s hand squeezing his.

 

“No Dave, I’ll handle this.” He stared at his father, patiently waiting for him to speak. “Dad?”

 

Burt groaned at that tone in his son’s voice. The one that signaled that he wasn’t going to back down from whatever foolish thing he’s gotten into now. “I just want to know one thing. The bullying, was it because of this?” he asked, waving his hand towards the linked hands.

 

Dave, ignoring the warning from Kurt, answered. “Yes and no. I hated what I was and I wanted to make him hate it too. But a lot of it was simply me trying to get him to look at me. He’s too good for me, and this town, and I know it. But I still tried to get him to pay some sort of attention to me, even if it was by being horrible to him. However, I knew how much his clothes meant to him, so I’ve never actually thrown a slushie at him.”

 

Kurt stared at him in surprise. “But…” he trailed off when he thought about it. The only one that he could remember actually being tossed in his direction was the one on the first day of school, but he could only remember Azimio’s hitting him.

 

Burt wasn’t impressed. “So you didn’t throw a drink at him, instead you shoved him into lockers and threatened to kill him,” he thundered.

 

“I never would have done it!” Dave insisted. “I would have rather hurt myself than him. And I didn’t know I was hurting him with the shoves. I play hockey, sir,” he said respectfully. “I am used to knocking guys into walls all the time. I didn’t realize that the shoves were hurting him,” he repeated. “He’s kind of skinny, but I play against guys his size all the time.”

 

Kurt looked at Dave in surprise. He had honestly thought back then that Dave was intending to hurt him, but if he was simply just doing a bit of innocent shoving, well innocent for a hockey player, than it changed things. It didn’t excuse it, but it changed things.

 

Burt grumbled when he saw the look in his son’s eyes. He knew that look. It was a look his mother had when she had looked at him. He would have been willing to still put his foot down about this, except that he recognized the look in the Karofsky kid’s eyes, the look that Burt himself had had every time he looked at Elizabeth, Kurt’s mother. He sighed and took off his coat and hung it up.

 

Kurt frowned as he remembered Burt’s mood as he entered the house. “Wait. Why did you look so upset when you got home Dad?”

 

Burt groaned. “You need to talk to that Blaine kid. He came to the shop today and asked me to give you the talk.”

 

Dave’s eyes widened and he instinctively stepped back, waiting for the eruption of Mt. Hummel.

 

“WHAT? He did what?” Kurt suddenly switched to French as he ranted. All that Dave could understand was Hobbit Hairgel’s name interspersed with several colorful words.

 

Burt’s eyebrow rose as he watched his son rant in another language and pace around the living room. “Did I miss something?”

 

Dave stepped closer to the elder Hummel; he seemed like the safer one to be around at the moment. “Blaine has been a little insensitive towards Kurt this week. He decided to add a sexier number for the Warblers, which Kurt got a solo for.” Dave explained. “After the performance, Blaine came up to him and basically said that Kurt’s sexy faces looked like he was gassy. Kurt called me in a rage over that. And apparently, yesterday, Blaine tried to teach Kurt to be sexy,” he nodded at the outraged look on Burt’s face. “I know. The idiot just dug himself deeper in the hole over that. I just don’t understand why he would go to you now of all times.”

 

Kurt paused in his epic French rant and turned to his boys. “Oh I know why,” he hissed dangerously. “I was on the phone with Wes at the Lima Bean while Blaine considered song choices. I told Wes that we were going to speak to Dad this week about dating and _obviously_ ,” he ground out, “Blaine heard that and decided to talk to Dad about something he knew I was uncomfortable with, and that _Dad_ would be uncomfortable with, in hopes of screwing with our talk. He knows that when Dad is uncomfortable, he attacks. And Blaine planned it perfectly. Get Dad riled up right before we talk to him, and boom, we’re forbidden from dating.”

 

Dave goggled at Kurt. “What the hell? I thought he friend zoned you. Why the hell is he acting like a jealous potential boyfriend?”

 

Kurt shook his head. “He’s not interested in me. What he is upset about is my new friendship with other Warblers. He’s been the lead soloist for so long that he’s seeing my friendship with Wes, David, and Thad, those that decide the solos, as a threat. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but after this stunt, his ass is grass.” Kurt then stalked out of the room towards the basement, where Dave knew Kurt had a dance studio set up.

 

Burt and Dave exchanged looks before Burt clapped the jock on the shoulder and walking off. Dave just shook his head at the insanity that was life with a Hummel and pulled out his phone. He sent off a text to Wes. _Keep an eye on Anderson. He pissed off Kurt in a big way and I’d rather Kurt not actually kill him because Anderson did something stupid to piss Kurt off even more._

 

Wes replied quickly. _I’d ask what he did, but I’m almost afraid of the answer. I promise to keep an eye on him and to keep Kurt from killing him. See you later._

 

Dave laughed at the response. _Later bro_. He put the phone back in his pocket and ambled over to the basement door. He might as well attempt to help Kurt work off the anger, he considered with a smirk.

 

TBC


	9. Epilogue

****

“And that’s how you and Papa got together?” Katherine Elizabeth Hummel-Karofsky asked, studying the various pictures decorating her father’s office/fabric room. “But what else happened?”

 

Dave looked up from his desk and smiled at his fifteen year old daughter. Kurt and Dave had fostered the girl the year they married, right after high school. That their plans succeeded, where Puck and Rachel’s didn’t, had been a point of contention for a while…at least until Uncle Puck and Aunt Rachel had fallen for the sweet charm of little Katherine. Dave put his paperwork for the current kid he was trying to recruit aside, knowing his daughter wasn’t going to allow him to continue working while she wanted a story.

 

Kurt spoke up from where he was leaning against the doorframe. “There’s not much to tell, honey,” he said, walking over to his husband to kiss the top of his head. “We went to prom, were voted king and queen by the hateful asshats that used to be your father’s friends. We struggled to keep your Aunt Rachel from falling off the deep end in her efforts to get into her dream school, while also keeping her relationship with your Uncle Puck strong. Especially when your cousin Beth reentered the picture with her mother.”

 

Dave took up the story. “When gay marriage was made legal in New York, your father and I made plans to get married there before we started school, so just in case something happened, the other would be informed despite the fact that we would be going to different schools. Puck and Rachel had a similar idea, but their parents weren’t as up for it as they seemed.” He gave his daughter a smirk that he learned from Kurt. “Of course, the difference between your dad and I and your aunt and uncle is…we didn’t tell our parents our plans until right before the wedding. We knew your grandparents wouldn’t approve, so we didn’t give them a choice. We simply told them that it was going to happen and if they wanted to be at the wedding, then they were free to come.”

 

Katherine smirked. “I bet Grandpa Burt was _thrilled_ about that,” she drawled.

 

Kurt snickered. “You know it. However, your Grandpa Burt, Grandma Carole, and Grandpa Paul were all there at the wedding.” He didn’t even bother mentioning Dave’s mother, who he was sure was sitting in a church praying for Dave’s soul or something like that, he thought with an eye roll. “Halfway through our first semesters, we became your foster parents, and then we adopted you.”

 

Katherine nodded. “And then, after you graduated, you hired Aunts Santana and Brittany to be your surrogates for the twins.” Even though they had different ‘mothers’, Bradley and Flynn Hummel-Karofsky were called twins by all because they had been born within two days of each other. She frowned for a moment. “But what about Uncle Blaine? What role did he play?” she asked, looking at the picture of the curly haired boy on the wall.

 

Dave grimaced slightly at the thought of the hobbit. He tried to put the kid’s actions in the past where they belonged, especially since his actions had actually endeared Dave to Burt. Essentially, because Dave’s best friend loved the idiot, Dave had to put up with him. “Well, after that blunder with the sex talk,” Dave explained, “your Uncle Wes basically took him in hand. They managed to fall in love and the rest is history.” Dave still couldn’t believe that the boy that had been headed for law school had abandoned those plans to learn how to become an entertainment manager so he could help manage Blaine’s career.

 

The two men couldn’t help but smile as they watched their daughter take over the telling of the story as she tidied up the room, obviously taking after Kurt in that respect. Kurt let his head rest against the top of Dave’s for a moment before he kissed his husband. “Okay Katy, why don’t we get out of your dad’s hair so he can finish his paperwork? You can come help me sketch up a new look for the costumes for your Aunt Rachel’s new play.” While Kurt still enjoyed performing, after graduating from Tisch, he had in essence become Rachel Puckerman’s official costume director.

 

Dave watched the two walk away with a little grin on his face. If someone had asked him ten years ago how he saw his life going, he would never have guessed that he would be married to the man of his dreams with three wonderful children. And to think, it had all started with a walk through a parking garage…

 

FIN

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it! Finished! Finito! Nearly 2 years later and it's done. Now hopefully I can finish To Wear a Blazer and get started on some other projects that have been percolating for months now.


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